As ever, this is where I have to land the memetically amazing Quing Crabs on the discussion: bsky.app/profile/enby...

More! More Quing Crab! bsky.app/profile/vers...

If you wonder why "Quing" by the way, it's 'cos when the Queen died & the UK was having to transition from the anthem being "God Save The Queen" to " God Save The King" lots of events ended up with "God Save The Quing" so that's CLEARLY now the appropriate transitioning monarch terminology

Not gonna lie, I actually dig the trans colors for a lance lol

You mean to say teenage me could've made his nails look like dogshit as well as getting laughed out of his local Games Workshop for his (admittedly) appallingly painted Ultramarines?

😁

I have neither :p

Also applicable to my N Scale model trains.

The one on the left...is that JD Vance's makeup routine?

What do you mean?

Look at JD's hands in my photo and compare it to the left photo above. Same hands!

You think he is a drag queen??

Bravo, sir!! You've won the internet today & you should Absolutely keep it up! This is a totally normal thing to barge into a completely unrelated conversation with!! It isn't weird at all!

Thanks!

I know now.

Unless you're old like me. I can see my nails but struggle with the fine details on minis, even with my glasses and a magnifying glass.

💖✨💞

I'm incapable of both 🙁

Can confirm. Have painted my Wife's nails.

Until you have to paint the nails on your dominant hand.. 😱

ambidextrous and mixed handed people for the win in those circumstances

Yup. I'm very much left-handed for detail work, but I have a lot of strength and steadiness in my right hand due to using standard-issue tools. It's a good combination.

I find it helps to rest my pinky on a table or counter while I'm doing my right hand

Similarly, I was bracing both wrists on the table edge the last time I had to freehand the eyes on a miniature

I need to get a better picture of him, but I'm happy with the grumpy barkeep side glare. This guy is about to put that half-polished mug down and sling a Nazi out by the ear.

So that’s why I’m dogshit at painting my nails! 💅🏻 😰

Haha! Joke's on you, I'm desperately in need of improvement at both!

Being able to paint your nails, was considered a dexterity skill that the Army considered when employing women to do specialised work for the war effort during World War 2.

My nails gets more compliments than my minis 😔

I went to the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam today and Van Gogh’s colour studies are also absolutely transferable. Might buy a mini just to give it a go

NGL I've considered beautician as a fallback career thanks for my miniature painting experience. But I'd be like the guy working at the Ferrari dealership turning up for work in a battered (insert maligned car make).

Explains why a lot of trans ladies are into 40k

Lol truth, was painting mine when my wife and her cousin asked me to donate on their nails. It's a little different medium to work with and takes a couple tries but the skills transfer surprisingly easy.

Do art on their nails.*. Autocorrect got me.

😆 exactly! This is what I was working on today

The first time husb did my nails I was stunned. But I shouldn’t have been.

This was literally true for me. I had a 40k army growing up, and then I was a nail tech at a small salon and boutique for about a year. Doing nail art was my favorite part of the job.

Can confirm. True for filing/sanding/polishing as well.

i used miniature drybrushing techniques on my nails last month and they came out phenomenally well. gave myself marble looking nails.

Now I know why I'm dreadful at both 😭

Try doing the right hand with the left lol

I used to paint my nails in high school many years ago, as a punk/raver kid. Everyone used to compliment me on how well I did. I guess it makes sense that I enjoy being an amateur hobby painter all these years later.

Can confirm.

thin coats!!

Hmm. Maybe I do need to pick-up warhammer figurine painting.

*cries in sucks at both*

My wife discovered this and I’ve been called in to do her detail work more than once. (On her nails. Not her minis.)

Haha owned 🤣

very much so. I've even seen some gunpla/gundam vtubers reveal they have painted nails in building vids, lol

I remember being complimented on my nail polish at a goth club in the 90’s because I’d done the base colour & drybrushing thing i’d perfected on my 40K figures

This whole thing smacks of gender.

I have two sets of minis of my Mutant Chronicles: Siege of the Citidel games that I haven't attempted yet. I know everyone starts somewhere, but the fear of messing up is all too real.

You can always paint over mistakes! Hobby paints are super thin, and we all end up putting TONS of coats on to get to what looks good. Worst case, you can always strip the paint and start over without harming the plastic too. Don’t let the fear intimidate you!

(Not my image, but it does show the detail on the Ezoghoul well.)

My hands shake, which doesn't help. I was lucky enough to buy two games when they closed the KB Toys back in the day. I two have two tries with this one, which could be fun.

I mean, I saw this product recently and yeah

I was about to post goblin stamping before deciding to see if anyone in the comments had already.

Awesome space marine

Yes! They totally are!!

🎯 same goes for liquid eyeliner.

This explains why all my models look as shitty as my nails.

Can't wait to try the Goblin Hobbies nail art stamp kits on my miniatures.

When I was growing up in the 90s, all my brothers hot wheels were too boyish. I began using metallic pink and purple nail polish, as well as glitter polish, to make the cars super girlie. I'm fond of this memory. ♥️

Oh shit, thanks. This is actually life changing advice. I always struggle with doing my nails, and it never clicked that this is the same basic skill.

👍🎯

Good for you for bringing that up

That why women often start mini painting with more ease. We are used to paint our faces and nails so we are able to adapt faster. Many men are sadly often not so used to drawing and paiinting a lot as kids. I bet nail technicians can make crazy effects on miniatures with those nail techniques.

Its true, there are so many incredibly talented female mini painters on youtube these days, way more than male painters

reminds me of the story of a guy on Tiktok who was super into miniature painting and through some turn of events got introduced by his girlfriend to nail painting and manicure and everything that comes with it dude got so into it he quit his old job and became a super successful nail artist

Not true with me, I tried helping my brother paint his minis once but ended up being more in his way and making the zombies look wonky. Also, I've never been any good at painting my nails, so I've given up on that task altogether. (He plays Zombicide, it's pretty fun and easier for non-DnDers)

(*Well, basically any newbies at ttrpg world, it's so straightforward and strategic yet simple enough to make a few hours fly past with laughter and yelps of "Ohhhh shieet, three more of those enemy spawns?!?! Welp, time to use my trusty ol' [spell, action, whatever your character has]!" 😂🤌)

Just sent this to my daughter who is awesome with nails. Love it

Absolutely some of my the best resources I've found for mini painting are meant for nail painting

Really need to play with nail polish more, but I work in food manufacturing and am too lazy to remove it after my days off 😆

This little battle brother had roast beef And this little battle brother had none And this little battle brother cried wee wee wee all the way home

You can also use nail stampers on minis There are now nail stamping plates made specific for minis too

I suck at both, lol.

I wish it were for me!! I am much better at painting my minis than I am my nails. Though I'm not exactly a great minis painter so that doesn't help.

Can't you even use some of the same enamels on both?

I mean, I feel like I suck at painting nails, but people keep assuring me I'm doing a good job, so there might be something to it 🤔

*sips* as a man with many aunts and a sister. Yes yes they are.

So that’s why women love Warhammer!

Misread transferable as transgenderable

Two Thin Coats

2-3 depending on the polish.

What kind of work doing that would pay the bills

Manicurist/nail salon artist.

There will be so many people pursuing those jobs, if they materialize, the wages would drop like a rock. I need a medí-pedi. I can at least support the industry

If you’re not buying your big, soft drybrushing kit as makeup brushes and blending sponges from Superdrug, you are wasting so much money.

I agree!!!

Miniature painter that painted my friends nails for her many years ago 😅 transferable skills for sure!

Observations when painting my wife's nails. Nail polish is so thick! But it's slow drying so evens out nicely before it dries. Offered to use my airbrush instead, but got got told no. Still working on this one :P

This was the other way around for me, but I'll take it 😅

Literally it's a great way to practice doing transfers is using the small random symbols you know you won't use on your thumb nails with a varnish coat with some nail polish remover nearby to take it off after you have practiced enough!

i transferred it the other way!

Lmfao x3 so I'll have flawless nails on my left hand but an ungodly abomination on my right lol That being said I will definitely be doing freehand nail polish lmfao

me, about to get into mini painting and sucks ass at painting my nails: *sweats nervously*

OMG its like an Ephiany i could do my own so easily 😩

They should open nail bars in games workshop shops. Also start playing 40k in nail salons. The world would be a better place.

Yes, in both directions

I came here to say exactly this!

Yes. I went from the right side to the left - though with lead D&D figures in the 80s. 😂🤣

I can guarantee it be true. Nail art brushes are also great for doing fine detail work on miniatures.

I used to paint model kits in my teenage years, hmm....

@kingmilkfart.bsky.social FYI 💅

Oh fuck yea lmao blood angel is my fav legion too

Also, heck! A hit skidaddle, lemme promote my Steam curator page, I got a load of games to add soon store.steampowered.com/curator/2834...

Honestly, for a few years I only knew you because any time I was looking at a game you had a good and informative review on them

A professional whimsical skidaddler!

Yeeeee. Also more so now folks are using nail stamps.

+suddenly realizes that maybe nail stamps could be used on BattleMechs+

Can confirm.

I was just going to ask if this meant I could paint nails. 👍

Um...yes!

I can paint minis middling well, and I cannot paint my nails to save my life. I discovered nail wraps though, which I recommend for others who are also so afflicted. Lily and Fox are pretty good and not an MLM.

Yo, include a sequel about those glass nail files you can use on acrylic nails and also gunpla

Try painting one of those little soldiers from Games Workshop with a brush from your nail varnish and read this and weep.

My nails are like miniatures. They don’t grow :(

At least there will be some qualified people when those jobs from China go to the usa

Could never get my blush right till I realized it was just drybrushing.

Hell yeah they are. The first time I painted my nails was in fact with a coat of Chaos Black because I was too nervous at the time to be caught buying nail varnish

I do neither but like aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Welp, that's one more job I'm not qualified for.

WAIT A MINUTE !!! Why have I never thought of this before xD

I'm sure someone out there has done orks checkerboard nails

truly, the amount of tools that have moved from my nail kit to my mini supplies box... would also rec using makeup brushes for painting too (cheap blending brushes are great for drybrushing)

I held my breath painting my six year old's nails the same way I hold my breath painting my Black Templars.

Great, now there's TWO things I'm not good at!

Oh it's so nice to see you on bluesky and this being the post haha. Idk if you had fun with the Space Hulk key I sent you, but I definitely had fun with the Into the Breach game you sent me. A hacker tried to steal my steam account and removed all my friends. Glad to "run into" you again haha

my brother in law was putting magnetic pigment on his nails and I was already pondering how to use that on my battlemech dolls

Started painting nails as a fun self expression while I'm too chicken to commit to a tattoo. Can confirm I was shit at painting my D&D miniatures and I'm shit at coloring in the lines for my nails.

True story, I was surprised at how good I was at doing my nails the first time because of how many models I had done.

For years near me there was a Model Zone selling paint for miniatures next to a Model's Own selling nail varnish.

lol I’m getting ready for a Salamander squad myself

That explains why I am bad at both.

We already know. 🤷‍♂️

reminds me of a visit to a chinese factory staffed by women with small, agile hands it looked miserable bc it was

I use to use water slide transfers for nail art. I’ll add it below if I can find it on my phone.

I'm staring hard at the nail paint brush that has no paint on it... But the sentiment about transferable skills is on point.

I've been finding this out myself lately.

A little bit of Alizarian Crimson.

It's true. I have helped paint my wife's and daughters nails on occasion. If you were wondering, crimson fist chapter.

Yes! There's actually a bit of banter in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth about this!

Those nail brushes are the worst

Me frosting cakes & learning how to manipulate fondant decorations for my kid's birthday cakes went into making cosplay, then sculpting, and then transferring it into drywall when I was in carpentry school was a direct effing line.

and even more-- you can use nail stamping plates for this stuff too. i've seen some youtube recs of someone who's made some plates with designs more suited to minis, too. Never even occurred to me before, but stamping is great and cool

Yup, can confirm.

well, then I don't have that skill, I always make a mess when doing my nails

CAN CONFIRM. I used to paint little seasonal designs on my mother's nails, and she loved it well enough to overlook the paint stains in the carpet until we could afford to tile my bedroom floor

Huh, so i should paint my nails, is that what you are saying? :p

I wish I could freehand well enough to make money doing the one on the left.

The best part of transitioning is getting to match your nails and your dice with your minis.

Damn and I suck at both

Yes, they are!! I started painting miniatures, but when I began embracing my identity, I learned that I was good at painting nails too!

I’m close. My first will be either a TTRPG character or one of the Lovely Ladies of House Escher.

My first painted miniature. Kind of proud of it

Holy shit that’s such good work! Way to go!

Thank you!

You prompted me to go prime my sororitas I’ve had built for months. My space nuns must rise.

Huzzah!

I’m spurred to get painting again. I found it so soothing when I did do it.

It really is! I might pick up some Trench Crusade minis and do those next!

Ooooo good choice!

Wow, that's your first one?!

Yeah. I have the type of ADHD where before I get into a hobby I do loads of research and buy ALL the equipment before trying it. Luckily that worked out here lol.

Did your Battlemech catch a Gauss round? Seems to be missing their left arm.

Indeed. Broke it cleaning it up after printing. Was still a bit brittle. Decided to go for “battle damaged”

What Mech is that? Has a Warhammer look.

I believe it’s a Crockett variant. Painted with the Capellan Confederation in mind

Looks better than my first. 😄 Well done!

Thank you!!

looks dope, good job

Ruh roh! New hobby incoming!

I do love me a new hobby!

Now I need to understand what kind of mini figs I should be using. Metal? Plastic? Anything?

I have a resin 3d printer so I just use plastic because I can download any number of free files and print as many as I’d like.

I absolutely do not understand how 3D printing works 😂

It’s fascinating stuff. It truly is the future

Could it make these? A friend spent years perfecting a process to replicate them. Originals can be worth a lot of money so she’s never made them widely available.

It sure can. Would just need to be designed in a 3d modeling software and boom. Printable

Mind blowing … !!!

The steady hand and patience this took! 💅🏽

I’m absolutely hooked. It’s such a relaxing and rewarding thing to do! Just can’t believe it took me so long to get into it!

I love that! ☺️

This looks pretty dope! Good work!!!

Thank you!

Good solid paint job and even added battle scuffs! This is a much better paint than my first mini. Keep it up :)

Thanks! I definitely will! It’s so much fun!

My friend, if this is your first, then you sure as hell found a good hobby for yourself cause that's dope

Thank you so much!

This explains Matt Mercer's nail polish game.

Wait but where does the garlic clear coat go on?

To varnish to make them last longer and add effect and texture!

...never-ending! It's still a 1 to 1 transfer

I am not a painter of nails, but I have often been tempted by the idea of painting them up and also adding transfer decals.

One of these will totally ruin your bank account, and the other is getting your nails done regularly.

LFG

i suck at both so I leave it to the hands of professionals (pun partly intended...)

So I should ask my model painting friend to do my nails? Fantastic, I bet I could barter him cakes for his skill!

Ooh, pity my nails aren't as even as the minis.

death guard manicure

In both directions

Fact!

As a boring hetro CIS Warhams painting dude who recently had to paint his elderly mums nails I can confirm this.

False.. I once tried to pain an old school smiley on an ex’s nails I totally fucked it most people thought it was a bunch of wasps… she was not happy. My Tau, high elves and space marines however looked fucking lit and where the talk of my local games workshop

I like both!!

That’s AI tho

For the Emperor!

Fantastic, that means im bad at BOTH of them 😅

Actually needed this. Thanks.

Speaking of transfers, yes. I have used water slide decals as nail art

I have neither...

Also an enormous fan of airbrushing and using water-slide decals on nails

(You thin the polish with lacquer thinner 'til it's the consistency of milk, A+, also Essie's the best gold paint you'll ever find)

Tiny screws.

And tools xD

Lady Naomi on the sword'n'steele YouTube channel has been painting her nails for a while

My hands shake so bad I'm afraid to ruin both, but especially the second one lol

One of the available techniques to learn is bracing your hands!

Like bracing against a surface? Or using a brace? Thanks for the suggestion!

Bracing against a surface. You can see in the second photo how the pinky of the one hand is resting on the other hand to stabilize it, as an example.

Yep. We also commonly do this for medical stuff that needs good control of fine hand movements. Probably the most useful tip I’ve gotten/given for using an ophthalmoscope

Ah okay! Thank you!

You're welcome! My hands shake terribly as well, bracing your hands against one another or another surface is something they really pushed when I was learning pottery.

There also is a great video by Terrainosaur about painting minis with tremors, in his case caused by Parkinson, but it absolutely applies to anxious tremors, nerve damage and other reasons for shaky hands too

Thank you for the suggestion!!

I have a tremor too; going to give it a shot!

True

That isn't true, I can paint minis way better than I can paint my nails 😐

Oooh! Thank you.